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<\/a><\/p>\n\nThe Best Years of Our Lives<\/i> was the magnificent William Wyler film that swept the Oscars for 1946. It won 7! Best Picture. Best Actor (Fredric March). Best Director. Best Screenplay (Robert Sherwood). Best Editing (Daniel Mandell). Best Music (Hugo Friedhofer). Honorary Oscar to actor real-life WWII vet and amputee (he lost both of his hands when some TNT exploded while he was holding it), and eventually the guy who helped form AMVETS, Harold Russell (“For bringing hope and courage to his fellow veterans through his appearance in The Best Years of Our Lives.”)<\/p>\n
\n \nTeresa Wright plays Peggy, daughter of Fredric March and Myrna Loy. March has been away at war. The scene where he returns home, quietly entering the home unannounced, is one of the most moving scenes in all of cinema. <\/p>\n Peggy is a sweet ingenue, played with sincerity and intelligence by Wright. She falls in love with returning vet Fred Derry (played by Andrews). There’s one hitch. Derry is already married. He returns from the war to find his marriage on the rocks. He tries to rebuild it, without much success. He is lost. Haunted by the war. No one to turn to. Abandoned. Peggy looks on, devastated, realizing that how trapped the man is. <\/p>\n \n \nOne night, Peggy and her parents have a long discussion about the situation. She confesses to them she is in love with Fred, a married man. She tells them of her sadness. They are very concerned, but they don’t judge. They are worried for her. They listen.<\/p>\n \n \nDuring the course of that discussion, the three have the following exchange:<\/p>\n Peggy<\/strong>: I’ve made up my mind. This exchange between a mother, father, and their daughter, has always struck me as so radical that I can’t even believe it happened. AND that it’s said by Peggy, the ingenue<\/em> of the film. AND that she’s saying it to her PARENTS. <\/p>\n All of that together is amazing enough, but what is most amazing is that somehow she does not come across as manipulating-homewrecker – and this is entirely due to Wright’s performance. She’s going to do something GREAT, and she is going to RESCUE a man who is trapped with the wrong woman. She and he NEED to be together, and now she has a PLAN to save him. In the context of the film, she does not seem delusional or cruel. She seems loving and damn near patriotic. He must be saved. And she will do it. <\/p>\n It’s a crazy hat-trick of tone\/mood\/casting.<\/p>\n Today is Teresa Wright’s birthday, and I’ve always loved her work, but it’s that determined lit-up “I’m going to break that marriage up!!”, said to her PARENTS, that I think of when she comes into my head. <\/p>\n One of my favorite line-readings ever.<\/p>\n Radical.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\nAl<\/strong>: Good girl.
\nMilly<\/strong>: To do what?
\nPeggy<\/strong>: I’m going to break that marriage up!<\/p>\n
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\nThank you so much for stopping by. If you like what I do, and if you feel inclined to support my work, here’s a link to my Venmo account<\/a>. And I’ve launched a Substack, Sheila Variations 2.0<\/a>, if you’d like to subscribe.<\/em> <\/small><\/p>\n